Egypt plans to x-ray the mummy of Tutankhamun to find out what killed the king who ruled Egypt more than 3,000 years ago and died while only a teenager.
Archaeologists will move the body from its tomb, which was found packed with treasure in 1922, to Cairo for tests which should resolve whether or not he was murdered.

"We will know about any diseases he had, any kind of injuries and his real age," Egyptian antiquities chief Zahi Hawass said. "We will know the answer to whether he died normally or was he killed."

A Cat scan, which will produce a 3D x-ray of his remains, will be completed this year, he said.

Tutankhamun's treasures, including a gold mask which covered his mummy, were removed from the tomb in Luxor's Valley of the Kings by British archaeologist Howard Carter. They are usually on show in the Cairo Museum.

But his mummified remains were left in the tomb in a stone coffin. Archaeologists last opened the coffin in 1968, when an x-ray revealed a chip of bone in his skull.

That fuelled speculation that a blow to the head had killed the king, whose high priest and army commander have been singled out as chief suspects.

"No one has seen the mummy since 1968," Mr Hawass said.

The scan of what seems to be a fracture would show if it had been caused by a blow to the head, said Brando Quilici, a film-maker with National Geographic, which is partly sponsoring the research.

Mr Hawass said Tutankhamun's mummy had largely been smashed to pieces by Carter's expedition, when tools were used to remove the king's gold mask from his body. The mask had been firmly attached with resin, he said. But that would not hinder the research. "Even if it is just bone, we can examine each bone."

Mystery has surrounded Tutankhamun since the discovery of his tomb. Lord Carnarvon, Carter's sponsor and among the first to enter the tomb, died soon afterwards from an infected mosquito bite. Newspapers said Carter had unleashed a pharaonic curse which killed Carnarvon and others linked to the discovery.

Scientists have suggested a disease lying dormant in the tomb might have killed him.

I have kind of mixed feelings on the subject. Originally, I believed that he had been murdered, the only question I had was one of "whodunnit?".
But since reading various books on the subject I have reversed my thinking. I now believe that his death was the result of an accident--that he fell from a moving chariot and was run over, crushing his ribs and chest. It may have happened on a hunt or during a skirmish with warring tribes, and enbalming his body was delayed. That would explain the heavy use of ungents poured on his mummy--to cover the odor from the putrifying flesh. The so-called death blow, to the back of his head, on examination of the skull has been disproven. The piece of bone seen in x-rays of the skull is only a particle of bone from the embalming process, when his nose was broken into to remove the brain. His death has been mulled over by romanticists for years. The idea of a young man, with everything to live for, being "removed" from his rule by force, is very dramatic! But, unfortunately, it's been shown not to be true. The element of romance and mystery will probably remain, though.

I am interested in knowing how he died, but honestly I'm worried about something else. The fact that there could be interests of any kind but the scientific ones is an example. The great scoop on Nefertiti's mummy done by Discovery is making me believe that the real interest of National Geographic in conducting the whole thing, and sponsorising the research, is the same: to look for audience, nothing else. What will be of the mummy, is not of real interest to anybody, so if they will decide to take it out of its tomb and expose it in a museum, it can be possible, as soon as they can make money on it, without any kind of respect for poor Tut.
Nobody can do anything to avoid other damages to this body (the body of a Pharaoh!)
I really hope that at least they will use these money to do something usefull for the research and to help solving any kind of problem they may find out on Tut's body.
ciau

I have read a number of other articles on this and what gets me is that Hawass keeps saying things like (paraphrase)"We will finally have an answer to how Tut died" and "This will finally solve the question of his death." Of course technology has come quite a ways since the 60's and may expose some new findings that weren't seen before, but how can he be so confident that we will have an answer of whether he was murdered from a blow to the back of the head or if he fell fell off his chariot and smashed his head on a rock. I really hate when he does that kinda crap!

Egyptology for the masses. What else can I say. Hawass needs to keep the public interested. Furthermore the scans might show whether he was embalmed quickly (indicating that his body was found immediately) or his body had rotted and decomposed (possibly that his body was left untouched for some time).

Hawass has made a statement that confuses me, though. In the blurb re: Tut's examination, he said that the remains included "the skull, the rib-cage and a couple of leg bones".
All the photos I have seen, including those from Carter's examination of the mummy, show a skeleton that is almost complete--I think the ribs and part of the sternum was missing. After his examination, Carter placed the bones on a bed of sand and re-interred his remains in the tomb. There have been a couple of further examinations since that time, but I assumed that the skeleton remained intact. What happened? Is Hawass correct?

You know, this could actually be a good thing. Since no one has found Ahkenaten yet, this may be a good way to determine if he actually did have any genetic disorders. Those can be found in DNA, which is almost guaranteed will be retrieved if they can. If Tut actually had a disorder, it may give some insight on what else the family may have had.

I just received my copy of KMT--Winter 2004-05--and there is quite an interesting article. It's titled "The EMP: Egyptian Mummy Project" and is by Zahi Hawass. It clearifies further the statement that Tutankhamen was to be tested, getting DNA results. It seems that all known mummies are to be classified, and, if possible, testing will be conducted on most to find causes of death, helping to identify the presence of diseases that were common in ancient Egypt. CT scans will be done, along with x-rays. No seperate DNA testing is planned. Tut is only one of the well-known mummies that will be examined. It's really a big project, when one thinks in terms of the amount of mummies that are available. Mummies from pre-Dynastic to Roman times will be used, and it has to be a body that was embalmbed--no skeletal remains will be used. Animal mummies will be classified and examined seperately.
I was hoping for a DNA test of Tut to answer some out-standing questions. Perhaps a CT-scan will give us a lot of information. Pinpointing a cause of death? It's possible, I guess, but not a given option.

bel--no, this has not taken place yet. In fact, in his article, Hawass gives no start date at all, just comments that the project will start "as soon as possible".

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